My players didnt have much time because some are going on vacation, and we wanted to play before we couldnt see each other for over 5 weeks. So here i am, stuck in my room on a sunday with writer's block. This is the intro i have to far :
The year is 1843, the warm California sun is setting outside of the small saloon where everyone is drinking away their sorrows and regrets.
An older man is also there, he wears a beat up cowboy hat and some shaggy pants, a button up shirt with a few holes and many more stains. He stares into nothingness, almost like he cannot see at all. He has an expression of thoughtfulness on his white-haired face. The rumbling of a train leaving the station rubbles through the saloon, distracting a few people but most seem unbothered. Some men are fighting, others are chatting with their fellows
The blind man stands up, his spine cracking a bit after being seated for multiple hours. He says loudly: “Any few strong workers want a job?”
My friends and I have been playing and streaming a Western-themed campaign with Steampunk elements (although we've been on a hiatus for a month due to some health/financial issues some of our players are having). We've found that a Western setting works pretty well with D&D... the small settlements separated over long distances, lots of open plains for mysterious creatures to live... It is a bit easier, though, to treat it like a traditional D&D campaign with Western flavor... characters still wield swords, monsters are still out in the world, etc. Trying to accurately recreate a Western adventure is really, really hard with D&D, since, for example... guns are way weaker in D&D than they are in real life. You don't get those "gun duel" moments where one shot kills the other guy. You also kind of need to explain why the characters have access to magic powers in this setting... I think for that reason it's generally easier to set in a fantasy world than in the real world, but it's been done well before... it's just a little easier to just have the whole story in a fictional world.
Let's see what we have to work with. 1843, nice time period: A period of single shot firearms and knife fighting, with only an occasional sword to be found (though a Bowie knife could certainly be played as a short sword), and before the influx of the hoards of miners and prospectors of 1849. Somewhere in California, a very large patch of ground with all manner of topography and environments. Still a significant number of native tribespeople here and there, and most of the Europeans here speak Spanish, especially in the southern half. Old disheveled blind man who specifically wants "strong workers".
Blind man needs help opening up his old, hidden mine (he found a mother lode before the gold rush, and kept it hidden. [Long trip, bushwackers, someone following the blind man to locate the mine. . .]
If near or on the coastline, the old man (may want to rethink the blind part, unless it's part of the overall plot), an abalone fisherman, recently discovered a shipwreck, and just lost his two sons to it, while the sons were bringing up salvage. [Pirates, bushwackers again, Spanish galleon. . .]
Natural disaster. Fire is coming toward town. Old man needs help getting his cattle to safety. [Skills and RP play]
The guy's a baker, and his usual crew is down with some illness. Needs strong arms and backs to knead all the dough required to bake a whole bunch of sourdough bread. (Just kidding)
Timber baron wants to hire the PCs as enforcers to go hard on a logging community up in the woods. [The players decide which side to take, once they get there.]
Do you have any specific setting in mind, or any must haves of your own?
I wanted to do a train heist, but needed some sidequests to have a reason as to why everyone has a horse haha, so i wanted them to collect gold to purchase them to actually do the train heist. I'll use some of your ideas for this, thanks a lot!
Thought I knew the answer, but did a little quick research. The first operating railroad in California, from Wiki: The Sacramento Valley Railroad (SVRR) was incorporated on August 4, 1852, the first transit railroad company incorporated in California. Construction did not begin until February 1855 because of financial and right of way issues, and its first train operated on February 22, 1856.
Don't let it stop you from having fun with the train heist but, for history's sake, the first trains didn't run there until 1856, after the gold rush poured money and manpower into the region.
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My players didnt have much time because some are going on vacation, and we wanted to play before we couldnt see each other for over 5 weeks. So here i am, stuck in my room on a sunday with writer's block. This is the intro i have to far :
The year is 1843, the warm California sun is setting outside of the small saloon where everyone is drinking away their sorrows and regrets.
An older man is also there, he wears a beat up cowboy hat and some shaggy pants, a button up shirt with a few holes and many more stains. He stares into nothingness, almost like he cannot see at all. He has an expression of thoughtfulness on his white-haired face. The rumbling of a train leaving the station rubbles through the saloon, distracting a few people but most seem unbothered. Some men are fighting, others are chatting with their fellows
The blind man stands up, his spine cracking a bit after being seated for multiple hours. He says loudly: “Any few strong workers want a job?”
My friends and I have been playing and streaming a Western-themed campaign with Steampunk elements (although we've been on a hiatus for a month due to some health/financial issues some of our players are having). We've found that a Western setting works pretty well with D&D... the small settlements separated over long distances, lots of open plains for mysterious creatures to live... It is a bit easier, though, to treat it like a traditional D&D campaign with Western flavor... characters still wield swords, monsters are still out in the world, etc. Trying to accurately recreate a Western adventure is really, really hard with D&D, since, for example... guns are way weaker in D&D than they are in real life. You don't get those "gun duel" moments where one shot kills the other guy. You also kind of need to explain why the characters have access to magic powers in this setting... I think for that reason it's generally easier to set in a fantasy world than in the real world, but it's been done well before... it's just a little easier to just have the whole story in a fictional world.
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Let's see what we have to work with. 1843, nice time period: A period of single shot firearms and knife fighting, with only an occasional sword to be found (though a Bowie knife could certainly be played as a short sword), and before the influx of the hoards of miners and prospectors of 1849. Somewhere in California, a very large patch of ground with all manner of topography and environments. Still a significant number of native tribespeople here and there, and most of the Europeans here speak Spanish, especially in the southern half. Old disheveled blind man who specifically wants "strong workers".
Blind man needs help opening up his old, hidden mine (he found a mother lode before the gold rush, and kept it hidden. [Long trip, bushwackers, someone following the blind man to locate the mine. . .]
If near or on the coastline, the old man (may want to rethink the blind part, unless it's part of the overall plot), an abalone fisherman, recently discovered a shipwreck, and just lost his two sons to it, while the sons were bringing up salvage. [Pirates, bushwackers again, Spanish galleon. . .]
Natural disaster. Fire is coming toward town. Old man needs help getting his cattle to safety. [Skills and RP play]
The guy's a baker, and his usual crew is down with some illness. Needs strong arms and backs to knead all the dough required to bake a whole bunch of sourdough bread. (Just kidding)
Timber baron wants to hire the PCs as enforcers to go hard on a logging community up in the woods. [The players decide which side to take, once they get there.]
Do you have any specific setting in mind, or any must haves of your own?
I wanted to do a train heist, but needed some sidequests to have a reason as to why everyone has a horse haha, so i wanted them to collect gold to purchase them to actually do the train heist. I'll use some of your ideas for this, thanks a lot!
Thought I knew the answer, but did a little quick research. The first operating railroad in California, from Wiki: The Sacramento Valley Railroad (SVRR) was incorporated on August 4, 1852, the first transit railroad company incorporated in California. Construction did not begin until February 1855 because of financial and right of way issues, and its first train operated on February 22, 1856.
Don't let it stop you from having fun with the train heist but, for history's sake, the first trains didn't run there until 1856, after the gold rush poured money and manpower into the region.