Terror on the Prairie - a High Moon AAR

Sheriff Rogers looked up as the newcomer entered the bar.  He had a shotgun slung over his shoulder, a pistol in one holster, bags that sounded like rattling bullets in the other, and a book under his arm.  

Nearby, leaning against the bar, Bad Tad York, chuckled.  "He don't look like nothin.'"

"Behave, Tad," Rogers said.  "He's going to help us."  "Hey, over here," he called out to the stranger, kicking out the chair across from him.

The stranger sat, placing his book and Rogers pushed a mug over to him.  "This whiskey's the strongest this side of Rockies.  When the man ignored the drink, Rogers pulled it back.  "So you're the one known as Gothe."  His eyes fell on the book.  "Your Bible?"

"Book of legends and tales," Gothe answered.  "What's the job?"

"Well recently, we've been hearing of strange things up in those hills," Rogers answered.  "Last night, something massacred an entire militia."  He took a drink and Gothe noticed the sheriff's hands trembling.  He continued.  "Now I heard you've dealt with things like these before, and you got a debt to pay off.  Now, I haven't got much for you to go by, but-"

"A thousand," 

Rogers looked at him, stunned.  "What?"

"My price," Gothe said again, "a thousand.  You said yourself  it took out a militia."

The sheriff sighed.  "Fine, a thousand, once the deal is done of course."

Just then, Tad sauntered by the table.  "Why don't you give me the thousand, 'stead of this here runt."

"Not now," Rogers said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "this is not a good time, Tad."

Gothe started to stand, but Tad placed a hand on his shoulder.  "What's the hurry, tough guy?  You too good for whiskey?"

"Remove you hand, please," Gothe said, keep his voice steady.

Tad burst out laughing.  "Please?  Why this pearly white city boy's got manners.  I wonder if he's got a pair though.  Care to show me, Mr. Manners?"

Gothe shook his head.  "Some other time, now again, please remove your hand."

He reached for his book, when Tad snatched it.  "Well look what we have here.  Mr. Manners fancies himself a reader!  You wanna read to me Mr-"

Suddenly, Gothe grabbed Tad's arm, twisting it, and slung the larger man into the air, sending him crashing onto his back.  Lifting the book, he glared down at Tad.  "Do not touch my book."

As he walked out, Tad looked over at Rogers, who simply shrugged.  "All that," the sheriff said, "over a book called Fantasmagoriana."

Gothe:  Rep 5 Gunman; Quick Reflexes, Nerves of Steel; Shotgun w/ Silver bullets if needed.

For this game, I combined the Prairie Walk and Confrontation encounters.  The object was to find the cause of the attacks and deal with it.  I also used a couple house rules as follows:

• When I resolved a PEF with a roll of Doubles, that PEF would be the main threat.
• If I didn't encounter it after resolving all 3 PEF's, I'd start Gothe back in Section 9 with 3 more (treating it as a new area).

I added the second rule after my third PEF turned out to be a cowboy who said hi and walked away.  I then started a new location.

After greeting the cowboy and wishing him well, Gothe continued exploring the forest until he heard screams.  Spinning his shotgun around, he spotted several people (PEF resolved as multiple townsfolk) running toward him.

"Monsters!"  they screamed as they rushed past him, not slowing for a moment.

Continuing in the direction they ran from, Gothe spotted a young man hiding behind a tree and reloading his pistol.  "You all right?"

The young man continued reloading bullets and didn't even look up.  "It ate my ma and pa!"

"Which way?"

The kid pointed.  "I'm going with you.  I owe whatever it is a bullet or two."

Gothe shrugged.  "Suit yourself."

Readying his pistol, he nodded.  "Friend's call me Lucky."

"Gothe."

As the continued, they heard a strange groaning and peered ahead.

"Zombies?"  Lucky gave a chuckle and pointed his pistol.  "This shouldn't be so-"

Gothe yanked him back just as a bullet struck a nearby tree.

Lucky gawked.  "They got guns?"

"One of them at least," Gothe said, watching the grinning zombie as it pointed a pistol at him.

Before it could fire though, Gothe point his shot gun and dropped both of them.

Lucky studied the two dead creatures lying on the ground.  "Those things didn't kill my folks.  They're too small."

As if on cue, they heard a pair of howls and two creatures emerged from the brush.

"A werewolf!"  Lucky said, his voice breaking.  "And a . . . what the hell is that?"

"Were-coyote," Gothe answered.  He pointed his shotgun, but the werewolf lunged forward, knocking him off his feet.  It tried to dig its fangs into Gothe's neck, but he smacked it with the butt of his gun and rolled away (Saved by Star Power).  The coyote-like creature lunged at Lucky.  He got a shot off, but it didn't flinch.  It reached the younger man, who fought to keep it at bay.

Taking a step back, Gothe aimed his shotgun at the werewolf and fired, taking the thing's head clean off.  He then turned to see the were-coyote attacking Lucky and kicked it off before firing again and dropping the creature.

Helping Lucky to his feet (Lucky Passed 2d6 on Recovery table but failed the Infection test).  "I feeel weird," the boy said.

"You've got the infection in your blood," Gothe said.  "Go seek out one of the tribes up the mountains.  They might be able to help you."

"If not," Lucky held up his gun, "I'm dealing with this any way I can."

The two parted ways and Gothe collected the werewolf head, bagged it, and returned to town for his reward.

(Gothe got 4d6 Increasing d6 and improved to Rep 6.)


And that was a High Moon Game.  High Moon is the newest game from Two Hour Wargames, and it mixes the wild west with the supernatural.  Expect your cowboys and Indians to encounter zombies were-creatures, vampires, witches, and lots of other creatures of horror.  High Moon is a stand-alone game that needs no other game rules.  It even plays well as a straight-up western game if you're not a fan of horror.  But where's the fun in that?

You can find High Moon at:

http://www.twohourwargames.com/himodere.html