This is the first installment of my ad hoc Sixguns & Sorcerers campaign journal, using the C&C rules along with a conversion of Fantasy Flight Games' Spellslinger supplement, and some things adopted from Beyond Belief's Go Fer Yer Gun! (western rpg rules using C&C mechanics).
First, our heroes:
"Black" Jack Brackman, a 3rd level human gunfighter with the blackhand brand. He's got a signature line he uses whenever he's trying to intimidate someone: "You're hand's been dealt, my friend. You drawn Black Jack." Jack, like all the party members, is a veteran of the North Star Rebellion, and found himself an outlaw after the war, when the very mages who used him as a weapon during it now considered him a threat. Jack hates the magi above all else, and hopes to make a name for himself as an anti-mage outlaw.
"Doc" Booth Compton: 3rd level human maverick with the padre brand. Doc has always been a hustler and a con man, and considered his healing brand to be an unwanted burden. He was drafted into the Rebellion as a medic -- under pain of death if he refused -- and served honorably, but always with a hint of resentment for the authorities who forced him into service. He was a member of the party's unit during the war. As part of his con, Doc now poses a preacher.
Sam Gracey, "Sarge": 3rd level human gunfighter. Served as the sergeant for the party's unit during the war, and maintains their respect today. He's the de facto leader of the group, the one they all trust. He also, it turns out, is the most moral.
Hemo Murphy: 3rd level elf trailblazer. Hemo left his family farm in Irmunsilia to fight in the Rebellion because he believed in the cause. But, he stole his brother's prized elven longbarrel rifle to do it, and now finds himself an exile under elven law. He occasionally has to deal with men sent to hunt him down, though he is only wanted alive, not dead.
All of the PCs except Black Jack were part of the same unit during the Rebellion, serving primarily as a rescue squad for agents and troops trapped behind enemy lines. That's how they met Jack; they were sent to retrieve him after a botched mission. On the way back to base, their unit was ambushed by enemy troops, and everyone in the unit except the PCs were killed. Now, five years after the war, they've all fallen on hard times and decided to live life as outlaws.
FIRST SESSION: TALMADGE PASS TWIST
The first adventure was a train robbery. The new lightning rail runs from the Commonwealth in the east all the way to Tlaxton in the west, and was on its maiden voyage when the PCs decided to rob it. Full as it was with dandies and nobles from back east, it was just too tempting of a target to pass up.
As their "point of attack," the party chose Talmadge Pass, a ridge about twenty-five miles east of the town of Fascination Flats. Doc and Sarge infiltrated the train as passengers a few stops back, while Murphy and Black Jack waited at the Pass to hop the train as it passed through.
The plan went off without a hitch, except for one minor detail... someone else wanted to rob the train, too!
One car back, Doc and Sarge heard gunshots, right about the time that Jack and Murphy hopped aboard. As Jack headed for the locomotive, Murphy climbed down to the first class car...
...just in time to see two armed men enter it from the other side: a hulking brute armed with an orcish hand-cannon, and a dapper gentlemen dressed to the nines. Turns out these were the notorious outlaws Johnny Sundown (the gentlemen; rumor has it he sold his soul to The Enemy so he could be the fastest gun alive) and Spike (the brute; really a half-orc with a hat of disguise; his hand-cannon is enchanted, as well: when drawn from its holster, it can Demoralize a target as though it were a 10th level knight).
The two rival outlaws heard the men on top of the train. Spike went to check it out while Johnny held the fort... including Doc and Sarge. A shoot-out ensued between Murphy and Spike, while Black Jack -- oblivious to it all -- took control of the locomotive at gun-point. Spike was thrown from the train.
Doc and Sarge took this as their cue to disarm Johnny. He was faster than them, but only one man. During the scuffle, other passengers ducked for cover as three men wrestled for their guns. Finally, Doc and Sarge got the best of Johnny and turned tables on him...
...at which point, the train began to slow down. In the locomotive, Black Jack could see a gang of about twenty men on horseback up ahead, including a black-hand who had just disabled the magical rail on which the train moves.
Now it became a stand-off: Johnny held hostage inside the train, while his men surrounded it and covered it with snipers on a nearby ridge.
Johnny offered the men a deal: they could take all the loot they wanted, if they let him leave with some very important passengers. Namely, the Baron James Throckmorton, his wife Elizabeth, and their two young children, Millicent and Tancred.
The party tried to haggle, along with the Baron, into a deal that would save the kids, at least. But Johnny wasn't having it: "the deal's on the table, friends. Only question is whether you end up rich or dead cuz of it."
Reluctantly, they agreed to Johnny's terms, but demanded horses so they could carry their loot. Johnny was generous enough to concede that point, and gave them what they asked.
And the session ended with our heroes riding away rich, while the Sundown Gang took the Baron and his family off into the desert, to a fate unknown. None of the heroes have any love for the Baron, and had it just been him they gave up, they'd've let it go. But they cannot stand to have the suffering of children on their conscience, so they have resolved to double back later and try to follow the Gang back to its hide out for a rescue.
After all, that's what they were trained for...
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"I didn't play Dungeon & Dragons all those years without learning something about courage."
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DangerDwarf
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