Zooming Purgatory

 Some notes and observations for a planned Gunfight in Purgatory Zoom game.

The Cameras

I'm looking at mounting my "Woolworths" webcam on top of the laptop for a view up Mainstreet.  The quality is quite good.

My phone camera will give the view following the activated character.  Having tested it the quality is excellent.

It means I will struggle to get screenshot pictures for a blog AAR, but I can screenshot the zoom feed manually at key moments.

Reputation Points after two games

Note that reputation points are awarded subjectively and prejudicially by the Town Mayor following a game based on kills, money and bounty, as well as flair.  Bystanders also award reputation points.

Doc Hannibal  400. $600

Kid Cakey.      200. $6

The Colonel    300. $300

Curley.             200. $200

Fast Mike        200. $500 (deputised and bounty rewards)

USM Rooster  600. $10.  Doesn't pay to be a public servant)

(The Marshal has inflated points since he is a single figure and has huge status in the county)   Taking down a character figure in a "fair fight" awards you half of their rep points.

The US Marshal

Tremendous stuff last game from my point of view.  He is a dead shot, but I still penalise him -1 for the speed of that horse riding.  He fires a pistol and rifle, alternately each phase, and still moves the horse, controlling it with the reins in his wooden false teeth.  He will start the next game afoot, but be warned, he is still deadly.  Taking down the Marshal would reward 300 reputation points, but the character that does so would suddenly be "fastest gun" and attract the same bounty of reputation points.

Please note that the Marshal is a played character and even if you think he's dead, like all characters he will reappear next game with an unlikely story of survival.

The transformation of Miss Eliza Stone. 

When the Table E Gang first encountered Miss Eliza she was a simple bank teller at the Purgatory First National Bank.  When bandits broke into the building and ordered her to stick 'em up Miss Elisa rolled a one on d6, my bystanders reaction roll.  In effect this meant she immediately had a hostile reaction.  Moses, a second bank clerk rolled 6, a hugely favourable reaction and ran for his life.

I have some real regrets that Moses, a veteran of my ACW Union army, acted like a stereotypical black character from a 1930s western, but the dice rule the day.  In Moses defence I would personally have acted the same, and running for it is clearly the sane option.

Miss Eliza reacted in a way that was not entirely sane.  I swapped her figure for a second Miss Eliza, this one pointing a Derringer. These are both scratch built figures but passable for me.

Here the rules let her down.  As a bystander she had to wait for a joker to be drawn next turn to react.  This allowed the Doc Hannibal Parker gang to subdue her with close combat. I hereby rescind the rule that stops bystanders reacting immediately.  

In future encounters in Purgatory civilians will act simultaneously with the figure they rolled the reaction dice for.  This amendment has a real upscaling of the danger level for assaulting bystanders. 

Rumours have begun to circulate in Purgatory County that Miss Eliza Stone survived the dynamite explosion in the bank.  She quit her job and has armed herself with a six shooter, and begun practicing her shooting accuracy, to the level of dead shot. (+1).

Even to a casual observer she looks a little different.  She now haunts the town saloons looking for information on Doc and his gang, and has promised to "fill that would be Bandido full of lead."

We wish her luck!

Moses remains working at the bank.

Reinforcing Curley.

I am currently sculpting a pair of shotgun armed figures.  One will be employed by the bank as a guard.  The other has joined Curley's gang (on a random dice roll)

As Mayor of Purgatory I will however offer Curley an Amnesty following the events of the last game.  It remains to be seen whether he returns to his outlaw ways or not.

The town election.

The Mayor has opened up elections for the position of town sheriff.  The US Marshal has authority county wide, but the sheriff controls the town itself.  Adds a shotgun guard to your faction. 

The Texas Rangers

Technically the Rangers were disbanded just after the war.  Nobody has dared tell the Colonel.   As I see it the Colonel owns a large ranch near town, with some of his old regiment as his loyal employees and ranch hands.  He also employs the notorious chuck wagon poisoner "Cookie." 

Back Stories

Having been thoroughly entertained by the back story of the Cakey Kid and his former glory as a New Orleans patisserie chef, I will offer all players the opportunity to go on the record as to the past of their Purgatory characters.  

Marshal Rooster is not really my own creation, but his history is straightforward.  Having ridden for Quantrill during the war he went on to be an appointed Deputy US Marshal for Judge Parker's Court and ended his days in a wild west show "trick shooting" with Frank James and Cole Younger. 

The Return to Purgatory

The table E gang returned to Purgatory yesterday.  Some of us took the role of Bold Outlaws, some as steadfast defenders of Law and Order, and one as a crazed Marshal who charged his horse all over town shooting people in the back! 

This is a picture heavy report.

Welcome to Purgatory

The Bank, Moses and Miss Eliza

Colonel Whitmore, the Captain and Tennille, Texas Rangers.  
Love will keep them together, apparently.

Curley, Shakey and Kid Clark enter behind the Saloon

The Marshal spurs up his big horse and begins a furious gallop around town.

Doc and the boys appear at the end of main street, wearing facemasks.

Cakey and the boys come on behind the church

It's all about to kick off

The Colonel advances down main street.

Djambo watches from the boardwalk and gives advice

The Marshal gallops past the Colonel.  Should a man as fat as that be riding at breakneck speed in a built up area?

Doc asks for a distance.  I send variations of this three times before he realises that a rattlesnake is lurking among the rocks

And that is a fine Milliput model of some sort of snake.

The Law lines up on Main street waiting for the  bad guys to act.

And speaking of bad guys, Curley peeps around the corner.  What's in the bucket?

Dopey and Doc get among the rocks together.  Not even Dopey goes near that rattler.

Curley and his boys snuggle up.  Standing under a ladder?  Is that Dramatic Irony?

Finally "Fast" Mike and his lads appear, behind the bath house.

The Colonel hides behind Pedro's ass.  He doesn't shoot at the unarmed bystander just because the chap is wearing a sombrero.

Doc's gang try to bust into the bank.

The Marshal comes hammering down the street

Curley calmly wanders across the street to join the bank job, ignoring a huge US Marshal bearing down on him at high speed

"What's up Doc?"
"Piss off Curley"

Grumpy Bill confronts Moses and Miss Eliza in the bank.  "Stick 'em up!"  Is that boy blind?

Miss Eliza gets a new figure, pointing a derringer.  Bill is literally taken aback!  He grapples with her.

Kick to the 'nads and Bill is thrown out of the bank in some distress.  Things are not going his way!

But Dopey spots a second door, probably because he saw Moses fleeing for his life from here.

Dopey charges at Miss Eliza, who has all of her weapons on display

He floors the lady.  Not a Western Gentleman!

Moses witnesses this but the dice roll of 1 means he keeps running away.  Very wise.

Curley and Kid Clark watch the unprofessional "Bank job" in disbelief. 

Finally Mike and the boys move.

Mike lurks around the town lavatory and peeps around the corner at the town drunk sleeping one off.  What is that smell?

 

Unhappy with his position Fast Mike goes to the other corner of the alley and comes face to face with the wrinkled sausage of the pervert town barber.  "Something for the Weekend Sir?"

Dapper Dan realises that the bath house is occupied

Miss Belle appears and begins kicking a mule hitched outside the Saloon.  Psychotic that woman!

Dapper Dan pokes his muzzle through the wooden slats and challenges the Bath house occupant, only to find that it is an enormous Mexican Bandido.  "I thought he was dead"   "Not hardly!"

Frog Eye and Dan empty their six guns into the bath house.

The big Mexican is killed.  400 pounds of Bandido.  Now how do we claim that $300 bounty without moving the body?

The Texas Rangers Captain moves around the livery with his Henry Rifle for company.  He remains within 12" of the Colonel however

Things are heating up on main street

Kid Cakey and his gang rob the poor box in the church, a Perry ACW house.

The Rattlesnake takes up position at the side door of the bank

And Big Heap comes out of the saloon.  Large fellow for a `Pache.

Doc enters the bank and clocks the safe.  
Hannibal Heyes of course would know the formula for creating a vacuum in the safe, using red putty, bellows and nitroglycerin.  Doc Hannibal Parker just lights a stick of dynamite and legs it.  What could go wrong!

Mike opens up with his rifle and puts a round near Kid Clark, pinning him.

The Marshal fires and misses.  Little wonder at that speed.

Curley and Shakey are overtaken by events as the law bears down on them.

Dopey skips out of the rear door of the bank.

Mike's boys appear in the street and begin firing at the outlaws.  The Marshal deputises them as he gallops past.

The Captain, Texas Rangers, sneaks around the corner to be confronted with Cakey and his pals apparently peeing against the rear wall of the Church.  "Err, don`t mind us, we're actually inside..."

The Marshal flies down the street, twists in the saddle and puts a round into Shakey's back.
I was having tremendous fun as the Marshal! 

Doc and Dopey hunker down to await the explosion.

Miss Belle moves to attack the Outlaws causing a ruckus outside her Saloon but... "Why I deeclar' its Curley. Howdy sugar pie."  Curley had a +1 to his favourability with Belle, but it didn't matter.  She rolls a 6 and falls in love.

The Marshal takes his entire turn to swing the horse around and begin the journey back up mainstreet.

Doc pins the captain,

And the Cakey gang emerge form the church.  He used "I`m comin' out" three times in a row...  Wanted the world to know!

The Captain ducks behind the corner and recovers from the pin.

Little Heap appears, looking for his dad.  A huge shotgun, but he's out of the action

Kid Cakey begins a long duel with the Colonel, using the picket fence as cover!

The Colonel hides behind the mule, shooting over it, whilst his men take the brunt of the enemy fire.

With the Special effects narrated "its a big bang" the dynamite blows the safe.

Shakey is hit by Fast Mike, again, and he attracts the unwanted attentions of the town stray dawg

The customary cake interlude.  Love this bit.

The Colonel returns fire

Shakey falls to the ground shot through the heart.  The dog gets frisky.

Meanwhile the Captain sneaks up on the Cakey gang and fires his rifle point blank.

He wounds his man but Kid Cakey has a sugar rush and shoots him down.  Pin and wound.

Sergeant Tennille of the Texas Rangers takes to the livery stable 

The Cakey gang hole up and give as good as they get,

Across the street Dapper Dan is down, but unruffled.

But the Cakey gang are now surrounded.  The Marshal rides up to Winter and shoots him... in the back!

Big Heap runs for it, as he sobers up.  Curley decides its time to get into the saloon

Curley runs inside the saloon.  He will live to fight again.

But he is joined by Saloon owner Miss Belle.  Hope he treats her like a Lady!

Dopey snatches $82 from the bank.  He runs for it.

Fast Mike redeploys his men to counter the Cakey gang

Frog Eye calmly walks towards the Cakey gang, tequila bottle and sixgun in hand.

But Frog Eye is pinned mid street

Doc joins Dopey.  He grabbed $461 dollars in the bank.  Doc's gang win.  "Poor Grumpy had brothers" he tells us.

With Winter dead, both down and surrounded, and the Marshal now behind them the Cakey gang surrender.

"You'll get a fair trial in Judge Parker's Court" the Marshal informs them.

And the sun goes down in Purgatory, with fast Mike and his boys enjoying $500 in bounties, the Rangers and the Marshal having done their duty and Curley enjoying his glamorous outlaw reputation. 

And it was one hell of a great day in Purgatory for the Marshal.  I thoroughly enjoyed the game.