Tested rough draft of Wild West stuff with wife's aid today. In the course of an afternoon in Dead Man's Knees, Doc Holliday held up the OK Livery Stable, got completely slarmied at the Last Chance Saloon, bought some soap and a towel at the general store, had a bath and a shave, and shot Curly Bill in the right knee with a shotgun when the latter tried to arrest him for the bounty on his head. Wife pleased with her character's performance.
I, alas, was playing Curly Bill. My only successes were making and keeping a romantic assignation with the parson's wife at Madame Sadie's hotel, and putting two bullets through Doc's right boot without actually wounding him. And I was the sober one! Now I'm laid up for six weeks recuperating.
Gunfire is currently far too likely to hit. Revisions looming. In retrospect, it was also a mistake to allow careful aiming with buckshot.
Aim - a swan off, just point in general direction and let go with both barrels. The Colt 45 is also inherently inaccurate, a 6ft target at 30 ft was good going.
But - don't make it too historical, otherwise it wont give a game. Memories of a Napoleonic skirmish where there was about a 10% chance of a hit followed by 5-6 moves reloading....
IanS
I was using a LeMat revolver too - big, clumsy swine of a gun. Point taken about history, however. Trying to make a game rather resemble an 1880 frontier dime novel.
If you had a Le Mat - why not use the shot gun barrel ?
Out of range. And I wasn't walking any more by the time I could have been able to use it.
Refight today, this time with three players. Rules ran more smoothly, but I got shot in the knee again! This time I'm permanently crippled, but have the comfort that the marshal who shot me will also be walking with a stick for the rest of his life; it was his wedding day, so he got off lightly. Since my man was an outlaw this time, I ended up in prison too; maybe a rescue will be in order next time.
The third player, a professional gunslinger looking for a job, lost most of his money in a poker game, then got deputised after the gunfight, and caught another (NPC) outlaw in Madame Sadie's, disarmed him in a shootout, and end the game with a tidy sum in bounty money.
I don't think nature meant me to live in the wild west.
Million Ways To Die In The West? ;)