TEXT: 537395
  800137
  5
   
  
  CATTLE RUSTLERS!!
  The town deputy marshal rushes into 
  the Lucky Ace Saloon yelling 
  “CATTLE RUSTLERS HAVE HIT 
  THE TRIPLE S RANCH – I NEED 
  VOLUNTEERS NOW! THEY 
  MURDERED THE 3 BROTHERS 
  AND ARE HOLD UP ON THE 
  RANCH! THE MARSHAL AND A 
  FEW RANCH HANDS ARE OUT 
  THERE NOW, BUT THEY NEED 
  HELP BAD!”
  The owners of the the Triple S Ranch 
  (Sam, Sid, and Steve Cutler) are well 
  known and well liked all through the 
  territory so 10 of the cowhands (see 
  New Classes Appendix) in the saloon 
  immediately volunteer. The deputy 
  marshal then looks at you with a 
  frantic look in hopes you will 
  volunteer as well. Once all the 
  volunteers are assembled out side the 
  deputy marshal swears everybody in 
  to “make it all legal like”.
  You can hear the local gunsmith tell 
  the deputy marshal “I'll go 'n git sum 
  pistils, rifles, 'n bullets inna waggin 
  anna have my boy fetch'em  right out 
  ta ya reel quik like”. You then see the
  gunsmith run off towards his shop 
  yelling at a teen boy to do exactly 
  what he tells him to do.
  “LET'S GO GET'EM BOYS!” the 
  deputy marshal yells.....
  The Triple S Ranch is about a 10 
  miles outside of town. The ranch is 
  small compared to many in the area 
  and consists of the Main House and 
  Outhouse,  Horse Barn and Corral, 
  Storage Barn, Small Bunkhouse and 
  Outhouse, Blacksmith Lean-to, and 
  Smokehouse.
  When the deputy marshal and his 
  posse arrives all is silent and all of 
  the ranch's horses and cattle is gone. 
  It should not take long to discover 
  things went bad for the marshal and 
  the ranch hands since their bodies are
  easily found lying in the dirt dead.... 
  Only 3 dead bodies of the rustlers are 
  found. Obvious tracks of the cattle 
  and horses are also found heading 
  south towards the border.
  The silence is broken when the 
  deputy marshal yells .. “COME ON 
  BOYS, THE TRAIL IS FRESH AND 
  SHOULDN'T TAKE US LONG TO 
  CATCH UP TO THEM!”
  IF YOU PLAN ON BEING A 
  PLAYER IN THIS MODULE... 
  STOP READING HERE. ALL 
  THAT FOLLOWS IS FOR THE 
  GM EYES ONLY......
  
  THE CHASE...
  Tracking the cattle rustlers should not
  be a hard task to do for obvious 
  reasons. The GM can add checks for 
  things like river crossings, rocky 
  terrain, etc... Also how long it takes 
  for the deputy marshal and the posse 
  to catch up to the cattle rustlers 
  depends on how many random 
  encounters the GM wishes to throw at
  the players. I do encourage the GM to
  throw some random encounters into 
  the mix like wild animals attacking at
  night or the cattle rustlers or wild 
  animals spooking the horses and the 
  horses need to be gathered up in the 
  morning (if the GM requires the 
  chase to go beyond a day or more), 
  The cattle rustlers might set up a 
  couple of ambushes along the way to 
  give them “time to get away”. If any 
  ambushes are used to slow them 
  down, the number of rustlers left 
  behind for the ambush should not be 
  any more than 4 per ambush. The 
  GM should play the ambushes up by 
  either wounding, killing, or scaring 
  off some of the posse but should also 
  direct a few of the shots at the player 
  characters as well... The GM can use 
  the bandit and soldier stats found on 
  pages 79-80 of the Tall Tales 
  Rulebook for the ambushers. The GM
  can also use the new class Cowhand 
  as well found in the “New Classes 
  Appendix”
  Once the posse catches up to the 
  cattle rustlers there should be only the
  deputy marshal, 2 -3 members of the 
  posse, and the player characters left.
  If the players show signs of 
  immediately attacking the cattle 
  rustlers have the deputy marshal 
  suggest that it might be easier to 
  “Take Them” at night while the cattle
  is resting and part of their group is 
  sleeping. If they choose this method 
  the following will be encountered....
  1) 4 cattle rustlers will be 
  “minding the herd” If  each one
  is surprised there is no chance 
  for a stampede or waking the 
  others in the camp. Otherwise 
  they will try to alert the camp 
  by shooting their gun which 
  will automatically alert the 
  camp and give a 75% chance 
  of a stampede (see Optional 
  Rules Appendix).
  2) 2 cattle rustlers on night watch 
  over the camp. If these 2 are 
  surprised those sleeping and 
  those watching the herb will 
  not be alerted. Otherwise those 
  watching the camp will yell out
  and this will alert those who 
  are sleeping but the ones 
  watching the herd will not be 
  alerted for 1-4 rounds. If those 
  watching the herd leave the 
  herd, check for a stampede (5%
  plus 5% per round added for 
  each round the herd is left 
  unattended) every round.
  3) 6 sleeping cattle rustlers can be
  surprised but if any of them 
  wake up use the same method 
  given for the the 2 watching 
  the camp. If the posse decides 
  
  to try to “Take Them” while 
  they are “Driving The Herd”, 
  The herd will stampede. The 
  GM needs to check the morale 
  of each cattle rustler and all 
  who fail will attempt to escape.
  See “Optional Rules 
  Appendix” for combat during a
  stampede.
  If 7 cattle rustlers are killed, escapes, 
  or taken prisoner the GM should 
  check for morale. Any cattle rustler 
  who fails their morale will 1-3 try to 
  run or 4-6 surrender (using a D6).
  WHAT COMES NEXT....
  The deputy marshal asks you to help 
  shackle any remaining cattle rustler 
  that is alive and help bury any of the 
  dead. The deputy marshal could care 
  less if any of the posse loots the dead 
  bodies since he figures this is the 
  payment for volunteering. Once they 
  are done......
  “GATHER UP THAT CATTLE AND 
  ANY HORSES YOU CAN FIND. WE 
  WILL BE SPENDING THE NIGHT 
  HERE AND BE HEADING BACK 
  TO TOWN AT FIRST LIGHT! Barks 
  the deputy at any remaining posse 
  members.
  The ride back can be as eventful as 
  the GM wishes....
  1) The remaining cattle rustlers 
  can make multiple escape 
  attempts
  2) The cattle rustlers can try to 
  bribe the deputy marshal or 
  any of the remaining posse
  3) The cattle can stampede
  4) “Friends” of the cattle rustlers 
  can lodge an attack to free the 
  prisoners
  5) Another group of cattle rustlers
  might try to take the cattle.
  6) Wild animals attack the cattle
  7) or ???
  If the GM wishes the cattle rustlers 
  could have been working for a 
  powerful local ranch owner trying to 
  squeeze out the small ranches in the 
  area. This would make for a possible 
  mystery for the player characters to 
  pursue if evidence “turns up” during 
  questioning of the cattle rustlers, 
  during the trial, or even something at 
  the Triple S ranch that “just doesn't 
  add up”
  
  ** New Classes Appendix **
  Cowhand
  Level | Title               |XP         |HD     
  1        |Greenhorn      |0            |D6      
  2        |Hired Hand    |3,000     |2D6    
  3        |Trail Hand     |6,000     |3D6     
  4        |Drover           |15,000   |3D6+2
  5        |Trail Boss      |35,000   |3D6+4
  6        |Foreman        |55,000   |4D6+2
  “Nothing seperates the men from the 
  boys any better than trying to herd 
  cattle... They are the meanest and 
  most unpredictable critters ever 
  created” - Clem Lawson
  Prime Ability: Dex/Con - +3 XP
  Bonus With 13+ Scores In Both 
  Abilities.
  Restrictions: None
  Special Abilities: Starting at 2nd level
  the cowhand gets a +2 dexterity 
  bonus when doing tasks that involve 
  cows (like roping and bulldogging). 
  At 4th Level the cowhand gets a +3 
  bonus to dexterity when doing tasks 
  that involve cattle. At 6th level the 
  cowhand gets a +1 charisma bonus 
  when dealing with other cowhands.
  On top of the above the cowhand has 
  to be highly skilled with his horse. 
  Keeping in the spirit of this, all 3rd 
  level cowhands get a +1 bonus when 
  rolling for their riding save. Once the 
  cowhand achieves 6th level this bonus
  becomes a +2.
  Calming Song
  Every cowhand knows that when the 
  herd starts getting restless the 
  chances of a stampede is at hand. 
  Once a herd is considered restless, 
  the cowhand can call upon their 
  Calming Song. This can be anything 
  from humming, whistling, to singing 
  (but don't confuse this with the class 
  of the singing cowboy). This song 
  can be called upon once per day and 
  affects up to 250 head of cattle per 
  cowhand using it. This reduces the 
  chances of stampede of the cattle 
  affected by it by 25%. For more 
  information on how to handle 
  stampedes in a game.... see “New 
  Optional Rules Appendix”.
  
  **  New  Optional  **
  ** Rules Appendix **
  Stampede
  “Every cowhand's nightmare begins 
  with the word stampede when out on 
  a cattle drive” - Nat Shane
  A down and dirty definition of a 
  stampede is simple when it comes to 
  a cowhand.... A frightened herd of 
  cattle running headlong and out of 
  control destroying everything and 
  everybody in their path including 
  themselves.
  Many things can cause such a herd to 
  panic including but not limited to the 
  following: bad weather, the smell of 
  water when thirsty, the scent of a 
  preditory wild animal, gunfire, the 
  smell of the smoke from a wildfire, 
  and many many more reasons.
  Once a stampede begins there is 
  really only one way to stop it and that
  is to ride ahead of the herd and using 
  whatever it takes to turn them. This 
  usually means that the cowhand is 
  putting themselves at high risk of 
  injury and death (usually happens by 
  a tramplingby the cattle from being 
  thrown from a spooked horse). 
  Typical methods of turning a herd are
  yelling and firing your pistol into the 
  air in an attempt to distract them from
  their panic.
  Damage from trampling is typically 
  an automatic hit to the cowhand that 
  is laying on the ground and deals out 
  1D4hp per round. The cowhand has a
  chance to escape a stampede on foot 
  using their quickness save (or other 
  method at the GM's choice) Once the 
  cowhand loses half their total HP's, 
  they are considered knocked out and 
  will need to be rescued by another 
  cowhand. Any cowhand trying to 
  rescue another cowhand needs to 
  make a DEX check as well as a 
  quickness save (unlesws the GM has 
  a better way to resolve it)
  Base chances of a “Threat Of  
  Stampede” is simple. On a non-
  threatening rest the GM rolls for a 
  chance of a stampede when the cattle 
  is stopped and resting. The base 
  chance is 1% with an additional +1% 
  per hour of rest. Of course there are 
  modifiers to add to this and some 
  examples are listed below:
  1) Gunfire:                   +75%
  2) Wildfire Smoke:      +60%
  3) Water Scent:            +15%
  4) Wild Animal Scent: +20%
  5) Bad Weather:           +10%
  The GM is encouraged to modify the 
  examples above due to how severe 
  the thret is, how close the threat is, 
  and other factors not listed. The GM 
  should also expand on the examples  
  above based on the needs and desires 
  of each situation.
  
  THIS LICENSE IS APPROVED FOR GENERAL USE. PERMISSION TO DISTRIBUTE THIS LICENSE IS MADE BY 
  WIZARDS OF THE COAST!
  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
  The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc
  ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
  1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open 
  Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and 
  translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension,
  upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, 
  transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly 
  display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes 
  the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product 
  Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game 
  Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and 
  derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means 
  product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures 
  characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, 
  designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual 
  or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, 
  personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or 
  supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered 
  trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically 
  excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that 
  are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open 
  Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, 
  modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means 
  the licensee in terms of this agreement.
  2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the 
  Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any
  Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as 
  described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content 
  distributed using this License.
  3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this 
  License.
  4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a 
  perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open
  Game Content.
  5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, 
  You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the 
  rights conveyed by this License.
  6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the 
  exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, 
  and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of 
  any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
  7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to 
  compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each 
  element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark
  or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly 
  licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The 
  use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that 
  Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and
  interest in and to that Product Identity.
  8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work 
  that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
  9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You 
  may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content 
  originally distributed under any version of this License.
  
  10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content 
  You Distribute.
  11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of 
  any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
  12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to
  some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You 
  may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
  13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to 
  cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the 
  termination of this License.
  14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed 
  only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Tall Tales Wild West BX/Tall Tales Adventures/Tall Tales Cattle Rustlers.pdf