The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
A PbP campaign for Sidewinder: Recoiled
What is “The Good, the Bad, and the Undead”?The Good, the Bad, and the Undead is a Sidewinder: Recoiled play-by-post campaign using d20 Past’s Shadow Stalkers campaign model, heavily inspired by the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, and the TV series Supernatural.
The campaign is designed to run from level 3-13. I'm drawing most of my material from the d20 Modern core book, Urban Arcana, d20 Past, Menace Manual, and Sidewinder: Recoiled. I will also be making use of the chase rules from Adamant Entertainment’s: Hot Pursuit, and Hot Pursuit – On Foot.
I won't be including psionics, with the possible exception of Wild Talents, and the magic use will be strictly limited to the occasional item, scroll, or incantation.
How many players?Two to four players would be ideal, assuming I can find that many players who own Sidewinder: Recoiled.
Campaign BackgroundThe year is 1898. William McKinley Jr. has been President for two years now. With the turn of the century in sight, and the last vestiges of the frontier tamed, more and more people are moving west to make a new life for themselves. The economic depression known as “The Panic of ‘93” is beginning to turn around, and the latest gold rush has sent thousands of young prospectors to pan for gold in the frozen wastes of Alaska. Ragtime music’s popularity is at an all time high, and more and more people are becoming literate and enjoying such contemporary tales as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, H.G. Wells’ fantastic stories of the future, as well as the recent horror sensation from England: Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Character CreationBEFORE creating a character, please review the following, and submit a character concept either here or to me via PM. If I approve your idea, you will be allowed to proceed with character creation.• Characters are to be created at 3rd level.
• 32 point-buy for Ability Scores.
• Equipment Available MUST conform to those items available at the time.
• Books to use: Sidewinder: Recoiled (with access to certain Advanced Classes from d20 Modern CRB, d20 Past, and Urban Arcana)
• Race: Human (please choose a nationality for your character – ex: American, (insert European country here), Irish, African, Chinese, Mexican, and native American)
• Advanced Classes: Bounty Hunter, Brave, Grifter, Gunslinger, Maverick, Preacher, Rifleman, Sawbones, Scout, Soldier, Tin Star and Wrangler from Sidewinder: Recoiled, Shadow Hunter from Urban Arcana, and possibly Shadow Slayer and Occultist from d20 Modern, Explorer and Spiritualist from d20 Past if you have a really good reason/character concept for why you want to play such a character.
• Action Points will be used. Everyone gets 5 + 1/2 character level, rounded down, per level.
• Feats may be selected from Sidewinder: Recoiled. If you want a feat that isn’t listed in the book, I’m willing to take a look at it and judge on a case by case basis. The more the feat in question fits the character, the better chance I’ll say yes.
• Max HP to start. You can roll (half HD minimum) at each level after that.
• If you want something that goes against these “rules”, ask.
• No evil characters. All characters will be expected to know and observe the
Code of the West. Disruptive players will be removed and their characters will become the next monster’s victims.
• Try to think of your character as a realistic person, rather than a set of gaming statistics. I will be rewarding good roleplaying over powergaming. If you try to carry around half a dozen guns on your belt, expect to be on the receiving end of a lot of attention from the law (not to mention having to pick up your britches every time they fall down).
• You need to also decide your characters initial views on spirituality and supernatural elements. Do they believe in ghosts? Do they think its absolute hogwash?
• Finally, you need to create a back story for your character, including place of birth, profession, and a reason why your character is traveling on the train to (location?). It doesn’t need to be long; a two or three sentence background is plenty.
Rules of Play:• At minimum, please post once per day during weekdays, if you do not, your character risks becoming a Red Shirt during the following adventure. If you have a reason why you will be unable to post for a day or two, please let me know ahead of time and I’ll run your character as a GMPC until you can return.
• Please post descriptively. A two or three-word response is not a description of your character’s action, at best it’s a placeholder, at worst it’s a cop out. At minimum, please post a full sentence, if not two. While this isn’t mandatory, and you won’t be kicked for not doing this, it does affect everyone’s enjoyment of the game.
• There will be a separate thread for OOC comments. If you must make OOC comments in game, make sure you designate them as such.
• Die rolling is done using Invisible Castle.
• Online character sheets can be found at Myth Weavers
House Rules:•
Rich Burlew’s Diplomacy rules•
My homebrew Gambling rules• The Fast Hero’s Defense Bonus is revised to the following progression: 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7
• Silver Bullets (-1 damage against regular enemies) Must be custom-made: $1 each, or regular price per box of 20 if you provide the silver.
• Your character gets bonus languages based on your Intelligence modifier. Characters are automatically illiterate. You may spend your bonus language points on both speech and literacy in any language that your character could conceivably have learned. Thus, a character with an Intelligence modifier of +2, and who speaks English as their automatic language may spend one point on Read/Write English, and their other point on Speak Spanish. Beyond this, you must spend skill points as usual to gain the ability to speak or read/write in any additional languages you want.
• We will be using the Cold Hard Cash monetary system rules (found on p.127 of Sidewinder: Recoiled) instead of the wealth system.
