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View Full Version : Help with a GURPS 3rd ed. weird west setting



matrygg
2007-04-15, 01:57 PM
I'm running a weird west game using GURPS 3rd ed. The setting is of my own design, and the way I've set things up is that the wierdness factor has just started in the gameworld over the past few years (since the golden spike ceremony, so for about 5 years). Most easterners are not aware of anything odd, and most folks west of the Mississippi have only seen one or two odd things, tops.

What I'm hoping for is ideas of things I can throw at the players in the way of situations, NPC's, and so forth. They are currently resting up in a town in in midwest after a botched random encounter with a steam-driven robot (since it was a random encounter, I didn't have the specific location pinned down but will before the next game). Anyone who knows of local stories of weird things that happened in the 1870's or so would really help out too.

As things stand, I'm going to have there be a town in the hills that are cultists of some kind of demon-god (I won't have the god show up, just the cultists). I also know that I want there to be Illuminati-type secret societies controlling things behind the scenes, and that one NPC I want them to run into is a Samurai who is searching for some sort of non-corporeal demon that travelled here with embassy staff. The latter two are more of a long-term thing; the former will happen over the next few adventures.

The ostensible goal of the party is to capture or kill a bounty-hunter/outlaw named Texas Jack Morgan, who never surrendered after the end of the Civil War. Not because he believed in the Confederate cause, or because he believes Texas has a right to secede (which is the cover story he uses), but because he's aware of plots by some of the secret societies and is acting to counter them. This too is something that may be discovered long term.

Anyway, that's probably a bit much, and I'm sounding like a "let me tell you about MY setting" email. As I said, what I'm really looking for is things to help give the sense of weirdness . . . background noise, as it were.

Hazkali
2007-04-15, 02:41 PM
Hmmm....not being from America I don't know all that much about American folklore. However, a brief scan of wikipedia throws up the following article: American Folklore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_folklore).

You could also add various elements of Irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_folklore), African (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_legend) and German (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_folklore) folklore due to the large number of immigrants (and slaves) of these origins, and of course, Native American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_mythology) folklore.

Matthew
2007-04-15, 03:23 PM
Sounds like fun. How about a confederate soldier who is the last survivor of his unit, who have all been killed by some supernatural force. He has been driven mad by the experience and may be possessed. Failing that, just wholesale steal the plot from Ravenous.

The recent HBO Deadwood series might also be an interesting place to steal ideas from.

kellandros
2007-04-15, 10:42 PM
Heck, just import whatever folklore you want, adding some Western flavor. Europe at that time is getting more civilized and covered with railroads. Why wouldn't the spirits want to head west to a better, more wide open land too?

The great California Gold Rush is counter-rushed by immigrant leprechauns.

The Wyld Hunt is called through the streets of Tombstone, and the US Marshals have to stop it.

matrygg
2007-04-16, 07:44 PM
Heck, just import whatever folklore you want, adding some Western flavor. Europe at that time is getting more civilized and covered with railroads. Why wouldn't the spirits want to head west to a better, more wide open land too?

The great California Gold Rush is counter-rushed by immigrant leprechauns.

The Wyld Hunt is called through the streets of Tombstone, and the US Marshals have to stop it.

I like the Hunt idea...I'm trying to build up to the level of weirdness from a relatively normal level ramping up to guys with colt walkers versus Great Cthulhu, if you will. Right now the weirdest thing they've seen is the steam robot, and they've heard about some kind of magical railroad disaster, but they haven't seen it.