Our regular game is postponed due to unavoidable absence, so I am going to run a one-shot. I asked to two guys who will be there if they had any preferences and Deadlands was their answer.

So it will certainly be a Western game. Maybe Deadlands, maybe not (because that is my prerogative as GM).

Regardless, I thought I'd try to plan it fairly publically, then give the after game report. Kinda how I did with Dust Devils, long ago and far away.

Next up: brainstorming.
I'm going to use Doc Rowtang's Adventure Funnel, because I've had great success in the past.
I'm also going to try and keep my A Checklist for a Good One-Shot in mind.

• A setting that grabs the players attention and provides plenty of places for them to connect. Ideally it should be one with well-known tropes and themes. Saying it’s a sci-fi setting with a tyrannical, but inefficient galactic empire is not much help. Saying “We’re playing in the Star Wars setting, just before the Clone Wars” is perfect.
• Group cohesion should be a given. There shouldn’t be any question about why we’re together doing this thing.
• Simple, obvious goals. Being assigned a mission is the easiest way to handle this, but the PCs goals should be obvious to everyone.
• Limited Scope. This can have several different applications, but the most obvious one is locations.
• Creative Freedom. Players must have some space set aside for stretching their legs. One-shots are frequently pretty railroady, so ameliorate the tracks by giving players space to come up with creative solutions.

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If you want to try something really rules light - this might be a good bet. I would like to hear an AP of someone who used it for a game, certainly.

BTW, here is my tried and true formula for a one-shot scenario.

1. Make interesting NPC's.
2. Each NPC should have a desperate need.
3. Each NPC should have something of true value (tangible or otherwise).
4. All the 2's and 3's should criss-cross. Meaning the thing one NPC has is what another needs. Include the PC's in this web. And make sure that no two entities form a closed loop (e.g. A has what B wants, B has what C wants, and C has what A wants, not A has B's thing and B has A's thing.)

That's it. And it works great! The PC's, once they make contact with the first NPC and discover his/her need, get sucked into the web of needs/wants and have to untangle it. If you want to add pressure, put a clock on it (some bad event that will occur if the PC's don't untangle the Gordian knot in time). Usually the PC's have to make some kind of sacrifice or complete some herculean task to fulfill some link in the chain. It sounds like it would produce a game with lots of "running around," but it doesn't have to. All the people can be in close proximity and mixing up intangible with tangible needs makes the web less transparent.

One dude may need to marry off his daughter, but his daughter may want to find true love. Another dude may have money and needs a bride, but needs to appear heroic to attract one. The PC's come up with a plan. They take the money to stage an act of heroism for the second dude, causing him to make the daughter fall in love and get married. The clock is that the second dude's mom is arriving on the train in three days and will move in with him (or maybe disinherit him?) if he isn't married.

The trick is not to assume the solution. The PC's might, for instance, come up with an entirely different way to untangle the knot.

I wish i could convince my players to play a Wild west Game, and a Supers game. Alas I can get no traction for either.

Shadowrun is almost there though, isn't it? I mean I got a very Far West + fantasy + cyberpunk vibe from this game setting wise. But I haven't played it.

Great review of Dust Devils. It really is a remarkable game.

"Deadlands" is not much of an answer - I would delve deeper, do they love the alt-history, the magic, the horror, the westernness...?

It could be, it definitely could...

I went to one of my close friends to help me think this through.

When we began we were throwing out broad story ideas. As we talked I narrowed down a few things. I started thinking I wanted a town adventure (a la Appaloosa or Open Range -- remember, just 2 PCs). But the idea of an adventure on a train kept interesting me, but so did some kind of hurry and deliver the Macguffin to the people. The more we talked, the more I realized I wanted something vaguely horror, vaguely supernatural, but not overtly either.

At this point barinstorming ideas wasn't really leading anywhere, so I used the funnel.

Adventure Funnel:
The Goal:
Deliver the Prisoner to the Destination [Intentionally left very vague at this point.]

Obstacles:

• Indians
• Outlaws
• The Prisoner's Associates
• Wild Animals/ Monsters
• Blizzard / Weather
• Revenge Seekers
• Mechanical failure
• Delay [Not sure whjat this one was, but it's in my notes.]

So riffing on this and as we began to do details a firmer picture developed.

Details

• The Prisoner is a cult leader
• the rest of his cult wants him back
• A Priest is sent to accompany the PCs
• They are taking the Prisonaer from the town where the trial took place to the prison
• they are going from a small town to a large town by train. Then by wagon/coach/horseback through the wilderness (terrain as dictated by narrative needs) to the prison.
• two "plot fodder" NPC deputies

So at this point we stopped and worked out the background of the scenario:
The Prisoner (later named Walter Odem) was a charismatic cult leader outside of Red Creek NM. Numerous bad events were blamed on Odem by the townspeople. From various illnesses, spoiling food, vermin infestations, freak accidents, etc. Finally he was arrested for arson, he suspected of killing three people, but it could never be proved conclusively. Red Creek citizens are so afraid of him at this point that they don't even want his ghost to haunt their town, so he is tried and convicted to serve 25 years in the Territorial Prison.

Our PCs, with a reputation for being experts in difficult prisoner transport, are sent to Red Creek, along with 2 deputies, to collect Odem.

A technique I've used for One-shots in the past is to have about 5 scenes prepped, knowing I could cut one if time is tight.
The PCs will take the train from Red Creek to Los Cruces. From Los Cruces to the territorial Penitentiary they will have to go by horseback. Along the way various weird things will happen.

Oh, and Walter Odem does have some kind of supernatural power. He draws power from having followers. If people believe he can do "miraculous" things, he gains the ability to do them.

I've been wanting to get back to Wild West gaming and this may be a nice set-up for a later short campaign when Walter escapes.

Red vests.

Sorry Doom, I won't be using Weird West.
I've got it and looked at it, but I've been wanting to try Boot Hill 3rd (BH3) for some time.

BH3 has some clunkiness, but it also has some neat stuff. (Actually, I suspect much of the clunkiness is poor rules presentation/ organization and not the rules themselves.) Mostly it seems like a no-nonesense trad. game engine with some neat combat mechanics.

I've been wanting to run another longer western game and BH3 has been a top contender for the system. ultimately I'd like to hack it slightly for my campaign, but tonight I am running it RAW except using a modified Chargen method.