And the Kid Followed

Game: And The Gunslinger Followed

Designer on Twitter: Hypnos

 

As I make it to the top of the hill overlooking our modest, worthless plot of land, I see a Cowboy on our porch. He is closing the door behind him, hat in hand. His head down for a moment, he places a black hat on his head and turns to the west.

I’m clutching the medicine in a small vial that I spent two days walking to get for Mamma. As the Cowboy dressed in black heads off, I race down the hill to our house. It takes forever, but I’m finally there and inside, calling out to her.

The medicine was supposed to help her. But there is a pillow over her head. Below it, she is dead. I close her eyes and then fish out a gun and holster from the bottom of the cedar chest.

Mamma said Pa was a Cowboy. I never met him. But she said one day he’d be back, and he’d probably be the death of her. I strap on the gun and start following him.

I’m going to find that Cowboy. When I do, I plan to find out if he’s my Pa.

I’m also gonna kill him.

The Kid:
+1 bonus to rolls where you attempt to gather information you don’t have.

Only once, the Kid can take a piece of information or an ability they know from their world and apply it to the situation.

Motivation: The Cowboy knows more about how you got to this world than you do. You need this information.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen

EVENT 1:
44. A horse begins to charge through the local marketplace. It begins to wreck stalls in its panic.

Only once, the Kid can take a piece of information or an ability they know from their world and apply it to the situation.

I grew up raising horses. Until a rustler stole them one night. I know a ride would help me catch up to the Cowboy, so I try to calm down the horse and mount it before its owner realizes it’s missing.

ROLL: 4
2-4 is a success with a cost
When you get a success with a cost, you can
● Add a condition onto yourself.
● Lose a useful or important item.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I get in front of it. It rears up once and I fall back, landing on the vial of medicine, crushing it. Not that I needed it anymore. I get back to my feet and make it to look me in the eyes, speaking in hushed tones. It takes a few tries, but it calms down.

I grab the mane and launch myself onto its back. It protests a bit, but I pet it and urge it on in the direction the Cowboy was headed. On the other side of the small town, I see the Cowboy’s footprints in the dust veering off to the side of a saloon. There I see the broken hitching post. It’s hard to make out what happened at first, but then I see the set of hoofprints heading west out of town.

It looks like the Man in Black got hisself a horse, too.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 2:
26. A small crowd has gathered around a hastily built stage. On the stage is a person dressed in the clothes of a wanderer. A banner above them proclaims this as “The Last Gunslinger’s Performance.”

Outside of town, charlatans and snake oil salesmen prey on the ignorant. My Mamma taught me better than to waste my time with such as they.

I take a sip of water, feeling the heat glowing on my skin and feeling it burning within, as well. As I ride past, the gathered crowd all turn and stare at me.

I’m coming, Cowboy.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 3:
62. You walk into town and see The Cowboy. They lock eyes with you, snap their fingers, and vanish.

I had followed the Cowboy beyond the mesa, to the bend in the river, near Purgatory. I stopped and filled my canteen before heading into town. The sun blistering on the back of my neck, I had shared some water with my steed before lashing it to the post near the only inn in town.

And now I stand trying to figure out if I’m following a ghost, a devil, or a hallucination.

+1 bonus to rolls where you attempt to gather information you don’t have.

ROLL: 6+1=7
7+ is a failure
When you get a Failure you must either
● add a condition onto yourself.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I’m burning up, I realize, as I ask the patrons of the saloon within the inn if they has seen a Cowboy all in black. No one had, and they treat me like I’m crazy.

The thought crosses my mind… what if I have the same fever that had struck Mamma. I reach for the medicine and remember the vial broke when I fell.

With an out-of-place chill in the damning heat, I get back on that horse and head west once again.

Clock: 0
Conditions: Fevered
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 4:
32. A couple of “bandits” catch you in between towns. There are only 3 of them, and their “weapons” are nothing more than retooled farming equipment. They demand all your food or your gun and all your bullets.

“I ain’t got time for you lot,” I say ‘tween gritted teeth and pull the gun from the holster as one of them jabs a shovel up at me.

ROLL: 3
2-4 is a success with a cost
When you get a success with a cost, you can
● Add a condition onto yourself.
● Lose a useful or important item.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I squeeze off three quick shots and put ‘em all down, splitting open the head of the bandit with the shovel. The horse rears up, throwing me. By the time I regain my breath, it is long gone back the way we came.

One of the bandits moans for help. But I gotta git goin’. I’m on foot now and the Cowboy’s on horseback, so time’s a-wastin’. I suck down the last of my water, realizing I’m starving, just like this bunch said they were. Now they’re full of lead.

I got 3 bullets left for you, Cowboy. The canyon is to the west, I know. That’s where I’ll find you.

Clock: 0
Conditions: Fevered
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 5:
24. You hear whispers of a woman claiming she can travel great distances instantaneously.

The Kid has heard this all before, from a hundred different snake oil salesmen. She’s faking it.

I ignore the band of gypsies and their stupid spooky stories as I pass along the road to the canyon.

There, standing on the edge of the canyon, facing me, is the Cowboy. The Man in Black. I approach him, my hand hovering over the hilt of my gun, shaking.

“Did you kill my Ma?” I shout to him.

“Yes.”

The heat already boiling within me erupts from between my cracked lips as I shout at him: “Why?!?!!”

“It’s what I do.”

I stare into his dark eyes, looking for a clue to my next question’s answer…

“Are you my father?”

The Cowboy’s face finally shows a hint of emotion as one corner of his mouth rises. He sniffs and then says with a deep, demonic voice: “Pull that gun and find out.”

So I do…

ROLL: 5-1 for Fevered condition
2-4 is a success with a cost

I wake up to the face of our only neighbor, ol’ Samuel. Behind him, the sun shines brightly, and I realize I am on the ground.

“Son, yer burning up. Let me take you to the doc.”

I look around and I’m on the hill overlooking our house.

“I gotta get this medicine to my Mamma,” I say, trying to get to my feet.

“Boy, I got bad news fer ya,” he says, taking off his hat. “I done checked in on yer Ma. She didn’t make it.”

“But I got her medicine!” I start crying.

“Boy, it’s a good thing ya did. You got the same fever. This medicine’ll do you a lot more good than yer poor Mamma. God rest her soul.”

Samuel nurses me back to health over the next week. His chicken soup and the medicine meant for Mamma save me.

After the funeral, I go back to check on the gun at the bottom of the cedar chest. Lifting it out, I realize it smells strongly of gun powder and has only 2 bullets left. Next to it, under a shawl, is a black hat.

It has a bullet hole through the crown.