Dodge City circa 1877

I'm starting a Sidewinder campaign to alternate in with my d20 Modern game.  The setting will be Dodge City, KS in 1877.  Here's some interesting things I've discovered about this amazing city while researching for the game.  I selected 1877 because it is the year that Colt introduced the double-action revolver.  However, as luck would have it, it's a great year for Dodge City.



Dodge City was established in 1872, the same year that the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway was connected to the city.  Originally founded to support the Buffalo hide trade Dodge City saw millions of Buffalo slaughtered.  In just 5 years the Buffalo were extinct and the town shifted to cattle driving.



While the Golden Spike was driven in Promitory City, UT in 1869 by the Central and Union Pacific railways  other railroads had yet to make their east coast/west coast connections.  This  created fierce competition between railways to complete east/west routes.  In 1877 the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka line would be driving for Santa Fe, NM.



Also notable was the local law enforcement.  In this year the chief deputy marshall of Dodge City was none other than Wyatt Earp himself.  Appointed only the year before, Wyatt would only be Marshall for another year before moving on to Tombstone where his legend would be made.  He would leave behind another legend to be marshall, Bat Masterson.



Kansas was a "dry" state in 1877, but the laws didn't seem to affect Dodge City.  It had a reported population of only about 1200, but still maintained 16 registered saloons and many more unreported dance halls and brothels.  A cattle driving Cowboy could make as much as $90 on a drive from Texas to Kansas and there was nothing to spend it on until they arrived in town 3 months later.  Needless to say, they were ready for the splenders the city offered.  Times were wild and cash flowed.  The legal system of the town funded itself by "fining" the saloons and dance halls for alcohol and other violations.  However, none were ever shut down... as long as they paid the "fines".



The players will start in the employ of the Santa Fe, Atchison & Topeka railway.  This allows a wide variety of character types since anyone could work a track gang and even the gunslinger types would be necessary for protection out in the field.  What happens after the initial start is up to the players.  I need to come up with some ideas that will play in to a campaign.



So far I have...

• Players find a map to a gold mine deep in Indian territory.
• Players have a bad encounter with a killer who ends up wronged or dead whereupon his 6 brothers declare vendetta on the PC's.
• Players get entangled with the law somehow and have to continually avoid legal pursuit.
• Players are hired to help a wagon train in to Utah.
• Players told by the railroad to scout the next run of track through Indian territory.

Other ideas?

Joint Birthdays

As it happens, my wife's birthday is 7 days after Gabes.  So this weekend was a double birthday party with about a dozen guests.  We had 3 cakes... lol.



The gift haul was Monty.  That means we got a lot of gifts to any non-geeks.



It was a great time and it's always nice to see all the grandparents.  Gabe got a bicycle even!  Of course he is completely scared of it, but I bet he'll come around.



Also new this weekend is a new car... well a new used car.  The Ford F-150 I owned was just 20' of gaz guzzling high payment.  So I traded it at Carmax.  The experience was alright.  Carmax is pretty "no fuss" about stuff, but no matter how you slice it, buying a car is a pain.  I now own a nice petite Volkswagon Jetta (2000).  It's black with cloth grey interior and a sun roof.  Very zippy compared to a truck.  I've never really experience german engineering first hand and I gotta say my initial impression is "hey, nice!"  The little sucker goes to 105 at 5000 RPM in 5th gear and handles like it's only going 60.  No wiggle or float.  That's kinda fun.  Of course the truck was a white-knuckle drive at 85.  After 85 it drifted all over the road and felt like it would flip from air flow at any moment--even when loaded with 700 pounds of sand.  But then it was a truck after all.



Anyways... life is good in Lake Woebegon.  See y'all soon (digitally speaking).

Gabriel Stephen Dorsey Owings - August 2nd 1999

My youngest son is 6 years old today.  He'll be starting first grade this fall.  He is tall and lean (entirely unlike me), blond and blue eyes.  He's a poster child for arian youth...  All those long limbs tend to impair his dexerity, however.  He's constantly whacking a toe or smacking his head on something.  I'm sure I can use that an excuse anytime he acts up as a teen... "you hit your head too much as a child..."

Gabe is almost never angry.  He is always trying to make someone happy.  He has a comical intensity about small toys.  One must be present at all times.  He also thinks there is a minimum TV watching requirement for small children. *giggle*  I think his ears are broken.  But I think that might be true of all children.

And despite all the "dont jump on the couch", "eat with your mouth closed, please", and "don't throw things in the house" phrases that seem to constantly be my only communictation with him, he loves me anyway.

It's his birthday today.  My son is 6.

Mark Twain

I have a strange affinity for Mark Twain.  When I read his stuff I think I identify more with him as I read than the characters in his book.  It seems he lived a great life that was still full of sadness.  I can't decide if his life was tragic or marvelous or both. 

My favorite piece of his is the diary of Adam and Eve.  It's a very short "book", but it always strikes me as one of the first self-help books on the differences between men and women.  This quote still chokes me up when I read it.  It's the last line in Adam's diary.

"Whereso ever she was there was Eden.  ~Marked on Eve's grave"

I was reading that book when I met my wife for the first time.  I'd read it many times before, but still I like to remember it.  However competent men appear to be, we are pretty much hopeless without our wives.  Thank god we found them.

Entry for July 25, 2005

I've been waiting for some good news to occur randomly before posting... Who'da'thunk that it would be over 10 days... sheesh.



Well still nothing to report on the Good News(tm) front.



Life is still good of course, just extremely stressful as well.  I find myself staring at random businesses and wondering what it's like to work there... Odd stuff like that.



Well I just remembered this cool poem I heard on World of Warcraft... You can have the characters says random things, each race has its own selection of phrases.  This is a Troll phrase. They have a Jamacian accent.



I kill 2 dwarves in the morning

i kill 2 dwarves at night

and i feel alright.



I kill 2 dwarves before

 I kill 2 dwarves

and then I kill 2 more.

The Pirates of Numos

Like a jagged hole in space lies the entrance to otherspace.  Nearby drifts the Landry Space Station; a Telos military base and the last bastion of that empires civil authority before entering the Fringe.  Three star systems are within striking distance of the station.  The most remote is the Numos system.



Numos has seven planets and a medium-sized red star.  There are two gas giants (Saresad and Oassen) that are both centers of gas mining.  There is only one habitable planet in the system, Caliban.  Caliban is mostly desert with few resources.  Numos contains a large asteroid belt that is currently owned by Lightwave Industries.  They have a mining operation active in the belt called Faltz #4047, run by Felix Redback; a Lightwave Executive.  The operation is infested with pirates, but is the only fueling station on the way to the inner planets.  Besides Caliban, the other inner planets are hellish worlds of searing heat and fracturing cold.



Naturally occuring holes to otherspace are known as "ainniq" an old word for "hole in the ice."  The ainniq are the primary means of travel between the vast distances of space.  However, the skills necessary to navigate the ainniq are a closely guarded guild secret.  Ships that do manage to run the blockades around the gates never arrive at another gate.  The Telos empire claims it has the ability to construct "man-made" gates, but to date has not does so--although they claim they have "secret" gates for military purposes.



Over the last few decades the Telos empire appears to be decaying.  There hasn't been a new starship design seen in over 20 years.  While the existing designs are still quite functional and modern, it is the longest break in development any can remember.  The Telos navy patrols the space around the Landry Station and will occassionally escort a Lightwave transport to Faltz and other facilities in the area, but no farther.  These large ships would make quick work of anything other than a coordinated attack effort from the pirates in Numos.



Still folks are beginning to ask why Telos has been so inactive for so long.  Rumors abound about political infighting, a repressed civil war, war with xeno's, plagues and even the destruction of Telos itself.  But rumors in the Fringe are common and rarely accurate.  Besides, what happens core-ward has little to do with life on the Fringe.  Why worry?



The leading crime family in the Numos system is the Demosid clan.  Based out of Oassen, the Demosid militia is the dominant force beyond the range of the Telos Navy.  The Demosid's take by force any resource that seems to have value in the Numos system.  The only areas where they have no control are Saresad and the Faltz mining op.  Saresad has it's own militia, but chooses to only defend its immediate area and trade routes.  Faltz is a Lightwave Industries resource and while only lightly defended, if it ever were attacked, the resulting corporate response would be bad for business.  On Caliban the Demosids run drug manufacturing, gambling, slavery, smuggling and about every other criminal racket possible.  On Oassen they control dozens of mining colonies (floating spheres inside the upper reaches of the gas giant).  The family has enough influence to get it's goods through the Landry star gate.  They pay large bribes to the local Telos authority for the priviledge.

d20 Modern Game Notes

Played a short little game last night.



Ryan received a package from the vampires good for 3 free months of food.  It seems a member one of the lesser racket operators was taking a little too much off the top and was now beyond his useful existance.  The package contains the details of the mark including home address, vehicle, base of operations, and a photo.  Ryan packs up his Barret light-50...  Russel Barret is the hit his is also a vampire.



The layout of buildings around Russ' condo is pretty sparse, but there is one hotel facing the windows of his 8th floor living room window.  Ryan spends the day watching Russ.  He follows the hit to his bar/brothel downtown.  Ryan spends the night in the bar casing the joint and ultimately a couple hours talking to a hooker.  He decides the condo is a better spot.  During the day he acquires some special Incindary rounds.



Ryan catches some sleep.  At about 1 PM he calls Christian for some help setting a C4 charge on the target's vehicle.  Christian motors up in his Ford and brings his "bag".  The underground parking garage is relatively secure, but there is a fire exit.  Christian examines the smooth featureless metal exterior of the fire door.  In a smooth moment with a thin strip of metal he pops the door in a couple of seconds (rolled a 20 Disable Device). 



Moving inside the stair well is easy.  The garage itself has several stationary cameras.  By crawling around the edges the pair make it around to Russ' black caddy.  Christian has 4 lbs of C4 with him.  Ryan says "Use it all."  Christian shrugs and sets a shaped charge under the drivers side that will be triggered by radio.  Christian's opinion is, "This will turn anyone inside the car into chunky salsa, but won't destroy the vehicle."  On the way out Christian inadvertantly stands up in front of a camera.  Ryan gripes and works his way up to the automated security tapes and removes the offending tape.  Christian heads home after giving Ryan the radio control.



Ryan sets up watch again.



About 30 minutes after sunset, Russ pops out of his bedroom and sits with his body guard in the living room.  Ryan is locked and loaded.  The rifle will make a heck of a noise, but it's the best chance of a single shot kill.  At this distance making a head shot is too iffy.  Ryan targets center mass.  If Russ is a full vampire a single shot (Massive Damage Threshold save) will be unlikely.  But if he's just on the edge, it might still work.  He pulls the trigger.



Ryan deals a cool 29 hp damage.  Russ fails his massive damage save and promptly explodes in virus laden mist.  Much hiliarity ensues.



Russ's bodyguards loot his apartment and bolt in the caddy.  Ryan resists the urge to blow them up.  The rifle shot was heard for blocks, but a single shot doesn't cause much comotion.  Ryan "ghosts" in to the apartment and loots the wall safe the 2 mooks couldn't open.



Back at the ranch, Ryan cuts open the save to gain a +2 wealth bonus in cash.



Interesting NPC I need to flesh out... Anita.



"Anita" is the vampire soup kitchen manager.  She is an old woman dressed in young goth.  She is also an old vampire.  The soup kitchen imports human cargo and chains them to poles in small stalls.  Vampires on the meal plan can show up from 2 AM to 4 AM to feed.  The organization takes care of the bodies.