Pulling a scenario together

[Jd Smith1]

Look for an inciting event that kicks off the moving parts in the setting. Maybe an election in a jurisdiction that the railroad is getting close to.

In cases where the party is employed, too, it can be difficult to drive the job's purpose as a character motivation. Especially when, in the idealized west, there are more interesting ways to make a living than breaking strikes (I hope you have a mature group, willing to tackle the racial and socioeconomic issues you've identified in search of a fun experience).

Motivation is never a problem. Tie XP, at least in part, to job performance, and it works perfectly. In non-fantasy games, I always use employment as the party rationale.

I only run historical, rather than idealized. Much better fodder for scenarios by drawing from history.

My players have been with me for years, all hand-picked and carefully screened. That's not an issue.

 

[Jd Smith1]

The TV show Hell on Wheel had many stories about building the Transcontinental RR. Most of it was from east to west, but the later seasons had some of what you want.

Yeah, I enjoyed it. It was a much kinder, gentler setting than historical, but I tagged a few ideas from it. Its handling of the Chinese involvement was very inaccurate, however.

 

[Jd Smith1]

OK, I reversed course, and instead of plot, I worked on infrastructure, tracking the movement of opium of girls via the Triad down to local Tongs. I also laid out the base camp in Roll20 and in written details. Hell on Wheels spent a lot of screen time laying out the infrastructure, so I went that route.

This has helped. Union organizers would have to be outside reformers, because the labor agents are tasked with keeping order within the work crews. In fact, looking at the efficient controls of foremen, Tongs and labor agents, all main drama would come from outside agitation.

This simplifies things.

There is also the issue of clashes between Tongs, which could disrupt the worker-soothing supply of girls, gambling, and opium.

It is shaping up.

 

[prabe]

I don't want to detour this from being useful to you, but I do wonder how you're finding Aces and Eights.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I don't want to detour this from being useful to you, but I do wonder how you're finding Aces and Eights.

This campaign won't start for a couple weeks, but I've used it in the past for extended campaigns. The presentation of the rules is awkward, but with the creation of a cheat sheet, I've found it easy to play, and very flexible.

The action system takes a bit of a mental adjustment for players used to rotating turns, but I have found that it forces greater involvement and attention as players do not get distracted waiting for their turn to come up.

 

[prabe]

This campaign won't start for a couple weeks, but I've used it in the past for extended campaigns. The presentation of the rules is awkward, but with the creation of a cheat sheet, I've found it easy to play, and very flexible.

The action system takes a bit of a mental adjustment for players used to rotating turns, but I have found that it forces greater involvement and attention as players do not get distracted waiting for their turn to come up.

If you wouldn't mind sharing your cheat sheet, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Here it is.

Kenzer has a free package to use the overlays on Roll20, which really helps.

Kenzer also has Hackmaster 5e, which has the A&8 system without the shotclocks, and with the count being by seconds. I have not used it yet, but plan to.

 

[prabe]

Here it is.

Kenzer has a free package to use the overlays on Roll20, which really helps.

Kenzer also has Hackmaster 6e, which has the A&8 system without the shotclocks, and with the count being by seconds. I have not used it yet, but plan to.

Thanks! Much obliged.

 

[Thondor]

Here it is.

Kenzer has a free package to use the overlays on Roll20, which really helps.

Kenzer also has Hackmaster 6e, which has the A&8 system without the shotclocks, and with the count being by seconds. I have not used it yet, but plan to.

Hackmaster is on 5e (unless I am really missing something). Love that game, it's fantastic. Have been wanting to check out Aces & Eights for a while -- I'm sure if it was in one of my local shops I would have snapped it up by now.

Some of the Union busting your talking about reminds me of an interactive theatre show I worked on last year. There was a gun battle in 1906 in Buckingham Quebec at a lumber mill between unionist and union busters.
The union president and another leading unionist died, while a special constable died a couple days later. Several people on both sides had gunshot injuries (slightly more on the unionist side). Four unionists ended serving time, everyone else was cleared.
I read a lot of french newspaper articles for that on the trials and public inquiry! Each participant in the show got an actual historic character who witnessed some of the events.
Probably too different to be useful to you, but maybe there is an idea in there

 

[Jd Smith1]

Hackmaster is on 5e (unless I am really missing something). Love that game, it's fantastic. Have been wanting to check out Aces & Eights for a while -- I'm sure if it was in one of my local shops I would have snapped it up by now.

Some of the Union busting your talking about reminds me of an interactive theatre show I worked on last year. There was a gun battle in 1906 in Buckingham Quebec at a lumber mill between unionist and union busters.
The union president and another leading unionist died, while a special constable died a couple days later. Several people on both sides had gunshot injuries (slightly more on the unionist side). Four unionists ended serving time, everyone else was cleared.
I read a lot of french newspaper articles for that on the trials and public inquiry! Each participant in the show got an actual historic character who witnessed some of the events.
Probably too different to be useful to you, but maybe there is an idea in there

You're right, it is 5e. HM 5e was built off of A&8, with a few tweaks.

As for union-busting, I"m looking at the unique customs the Chinese workers had; for one thing, they had burial societies to ensure their remains got shipped home, an important feature when 3-4 men died per mile of rail laid. The railroad crushed union efforts be threatening to not all the remains to travel by rail.

So I'm looking at other possibilities. The Anarchists were gaining steam about this time.